Secretary’s Update Report

1.0 Purpose of the Report

1.1 To update members of the Local Access Forum on developments since the last meeting of NYLAF.

2.0 Local Development Plans

2.1 One of the key areas of involvement for the Forum is to ensure appropriate engagement in the preparation of Local Development Plans. Set out in the table below is a summary of the current position in relation to the new Council, and in relation to the Minerals and Waste Joint Plan.

Authority

Status

North Yorkshire Council

The development plan, made up of local plan and neighbourhood plan policies, is at the heart of the planning system. Legally, decisions on planning applications and other development proposals must be considered against this plan, together with other material considerations such as national planning guidance, supplementary planning documents and development briefs.

North Yorkshire Council is required to prepare and adopt a new local plan by 1 April 2028, which will replace the existing local plans of the former councils. The new local plan will form part of the development plan for the areas of North Yorkshire not covered by the two national park authorities. Until it is adopted, existing plans and policies listed in the consolidated planning policy framework will apply. For further information see: Consolidated planning policy framework and schedule of evidence | North Yorkshire Council

Minerals and

Waste Joint

Plan

North Yorkshire County Council adopted the Minerals and Waste Joint Plan at a Full Council meeting in February 2022. An adoption statement (pdf / 436 KB) was issued under Regulations 26 and 35 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 (as amended) and the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (as amended). The North York Moors National Park Authority adopted the Minerals and Waste Joint Plan in March 2022 and the City of York Council adopted the Minerals and Waste Joint Plan in April 2022.

The Adopted Minerals and Waste Joint Plan and accompanying documents can be viewed in the Examination Library at: Minerals and waste joint plan examination | North Yorkshire Council,

These documents replaced the 'saved' policies in the North Yorkshire County Council Minerals Local Plan 1997 and 'saved' policies in the North Yorkshire County Council Waste Local Plan 2006. The adopted documents are available to view via the link above.

3.0 Local Transport Plan (LTP) Update

3.1 Work is underway to rewrite the LTP for North Yorkshire and the new LTP will include Local Transport Delivery Plans for each of the old Unitary Council areas. The new plan will look at all aspects of the region’s transport, including road, rail, bus, cycling and walking, and will be developed alongside City of York Council. To support its development, residents are being encouraged to share their travel habits via a residents’ survey.

3.2 A Senior Transport Planning Officer will be attending the meeting to provide a brief presentation on the ongoing development and consultation process.

4.0 Regional Forum

4.1 A meeting the Regional Forum was recently held on 13 September 2023, which included an update from Natural England on the following:

· Local Access Forums - In August 2023 a new SharePoint site for LAFs was launched to replace in part the withdrawn HUDDLE platform. The LAF contact list has been updated and all LAF authorities have been contacted to update contact details and have been invited to join the site. The site will be a place to store LAF annual reports. There is a limited amount of resource at the moment that can apply to LAF work so the focus has been on getting the contact up to date and the site launched. Feedback to what LAFs might like to see on the site will be sought and perhaps other events/actions if more resource becomes available. For example, a simplified form of the annual reporting process may be resurrected given that the number of annual reports seems to have dropped off in recent years. Forum members can join the site by contacting Danielle.Radley@naturalengland.org.uk

· Environmental Land Management Scheme - For the LandscapeRecovery tier public access improvements are a secondary objective but will be a scored component of applications. Natural England will look for planned and justified accessibility improvements, access management measures, new infrastructure etc. which will complement the wider agreement objectives and enhance local access.

· Countryside Stewardship Plus - The reintroduction of permissive access options are being considered by Defra for this element of ELMS and that we Natural England are continuing to advise them re targeting, value for money, guidance, option drafting etc. However, a final decision is yet to be made by ministers on its inclusion which is expected in Autumn.

· Permissive Access Survey – The Survey commissioned in 2022 to find out what happened to routes once agreements ended and reasons for closing/keeping open etc. has been completed, but the Defra publications process has yet to run its course. When it’s published a link will be posted for LAFs on the Stewardship Plus site and probably via email. There are also some other interesting research reports pending re access and engagement which will sign posted in due course.

4.2 The draft Minutes of that meeting have been circulated via email. The next meeting of the Regional Forum will be held on Wednesday 13^th March 2024 at Leeds Civic Hall.

5.0 Discretionary Restriction Notices

5.1 There have been 7 notifications received of discretionary ‘28 day’ restrictions under Section 22 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, and no withdrawals of a discretionary restriction under Section 22 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, since the last Forum meeting.